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Arrow Scoop: Will Tommy Out Oliver as the Vigilante?

As if Arrow's titular hero didn't have enough problems to deal with while attempting to rid Starling City of villains, now he has to worry that his best friend Tommy may reveal his true identity. Ruh-roh.

Oliver (Stephen Amell) was forced to reveal the truth to Tommy (Colin Donnell) in order to save Tommy's father, Malcolm (John Barrowman) — though Oliver later admitted that he never planned to let Tommy in on his secret. Ouch. Tommy is now the third person to discover Oliver's alter ego is the vigilante formally known as the Hood.

"It's going to change pretty much everything," Donnell tells TVGuide.com. "Really, Tommy is the only one who reacts to Oliver's news in a way that a normal human being might. Just because he's doing good things doesn't change the fact that he's doing them in a really harsh and sometimes unforgiving way."

Additionally, Oliver now runs the risk of former flame Laurel (Katie Cassidy) discovering the truth since Tommy could, at any moment, reveal the secret. "That could happen. It's going to change the dynamic between Tommy and Laurel," Donnell says. But it will be an even bigger blow to Tommy's ego to realize that his girlfriend has inadvertently been working with her ex to clean up Starling City over the last few months. "He's going to look at that relationship in a different way. There's a little bit of jealousy; there's a little bit of fear. It changes how he views her interactions with Oliver. It's not necessarily a good thing for Tommy."

But what should worry Oliver is the fact that Tommy is the son of Oliver's greatest foe, the Dark Archer. Unfortunately, inadvertently saving his nemesis has actually brought father and son closer. "There's an evolving relationship between Tommy and Malcolm now that they've reconciled," Donnell says, noting that it's unclear whether Malcolm will confess his true identity to his son as he nearly did before being shot. "It's a possibility, but I haven't read it in the scripts yet. I think it would be a bigger shock than finding out that Oliver is the vigilante. I don't know how happy Tommy would be."

Even though the series is giving every indication that Tommy will one day succeed his father as the Dark Archer, Donnell remains mum. "I'm letting the writers take the reins and I'm just happy to go along for the ride," he says coyly. But we will see an edgier Tommy. "There's going to be even more shades of what has made him a really likable character and an honorable person who questions the dishonorable stuff that Oliver is pulling," Donnell says.

In taking a step towards his eventual dark future, Tommy will find himself on the wrong side of the law after a woman is violently murdered after partying at the club. "Tommy gets put on the defensive and it's not just from Laurel's dad, it's from Oliver too," Donnell says. "All of the sudden his best friend in the world thinks he's capable of dealing drugs and doing these bad things. It's going to throw a big wrench in the relationship. Really the only person who doesn't think that Tommy has done anything wrong is Laurel. She stands by his side the entire time."